Skip to main content

Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

OP ART STYLE

The Op art movement emerged in the 1960s, mirroring the counterculture of the time in its embrace of visual trickery, graphic shapes and bright colors.

Spreading across Europe and the Americas, the style — whose name is short for “optical art” — influenced advertising, fashion and interior design before fading in the early ’70s.

Op art remained significant, however, for artists and scientists interested in the nature of perception. And today, it’s seeing a resurgence of interest from collectors and interior designers.

Op artists played with the principles of perception, manipulating line, shape, patterns and color to create the illusion of depth and movement. They drew on and evolved methods developed by past movements, from Impressionism to Abstract Expressionism, to produce intense visual experiences.

All the Op artists shared a focus on the gap between what is and what we perceive. Each, however, had a distinct approach to the issue and a unique visual style.

On 1stDibs, find a collection of Op art that includes works by Josef Albers, Bridget Riley, Jesús Rafael Soto and more.

to
1
2
5
1
2
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
8
2
1
2
1
1
7,410
7,226
5,034
3,111
927
639
539
413
403
316
250
211
61
48
5
4
1
1
1
1
1
1
5
4
4
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
4
3
8
2
Style: Op Art
3D Render Mountain Landscape, Handmade Cyanotype in Deep Blue Tones, Minimal
Located in Barcelona, ES
This is an exclusive handprinted limited edition cyanotype. Contemporary linear cyanotype showing a 3D mountain terrain. Details: + Title: 3D Render Mountain + Year: 2021 + Edition ...
Category

2010s Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

C Print, Lithograph, Paper

Owl, Circa 1970 - Op Art-Inspired Geometric Composition
Located in Firenze, IT
Owl, Circa 1970 - Op Art-Inspired Geometric Composition Date: Approximately 1970 Medium: Gouache on cardboard with embossed stamp Dimensions: H 64 cm x W 49 cm approx. A stylized o...
Category

Late 20th Century Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Illustration Board, Cardboard

Near and Far Acuity, Signed Mid Century Modern Op Art painting, historic exhibit
Located in New York, NY
Richard Anuszkiewicz Near and Far Acuity, 1957 Gouache and watercolor painting on board Hand signed and dated 1957 by Richard Anuszkiewicz on the right front Frame included Anuszkie...
Category

Mid-20th Century Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media, Watercolor, Gouache

Oscar Reutersvard Original Op Art Pen, Ink Watercolor Drawing C.1990
Located in San Francisco, CA
Oscar Reutersvard Original Op Art Pen, Ink & Watercolor Drawing C.1990 Dimensions 8" wide x 11" high Housed in a simple frame - Dimensions 15" wide...
Category

Late 20th Century Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink, Watercolor

Untitled VI, OP Art Geometric Abstract Acrylic Painting on Paper by David Roth
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: David Roth, American (1942 - ) Title: Untitled VI Year: 1974 Medium: Acrylic Painting on Arches Paper, signed and dated Image Size: 15.5 x 45.5 inches Size: 22.5 in. x 53.5 i...
Category

1970s Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Brutalist Op Art Abstract Charcoal Drawing by Dordevic Miodrag
Located in Atlanta, GA
Serbian artist Dordevic (or Djordjevic) Miodrag (1936 -), known as "Miodrag," designed this stunning abstract drawing. This work is a charcoal on paper depicting a brutalist abstract...
Category

1960s Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Charcoal

Geometric Color Grid - Op Art Composition
Located in Soquel, CA
Highly precise op-art composition by an unknown artist. A grid of colored squares has been created with various colors, divided by occasional diagonal lines that give the feel of ove...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Untitled V, Op Art Abstract Geometric Pencil Drawing David Roth
Located in Long Island City, NY
This colored pencil drawing was created by American artist David Roth. Roth's images are proportioned according to a strict mathematical formula - the pictures are composed according...
Category

1970s Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Color Pencil

Oscillation
Located in Fairlawn, OH
11 color screen print Signed, dated, titled and numberedin pencil Edition: 150 (9/150) Provenance: Estate of the Artist By Decent
Category

1980s Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Screen

Untitled
By John Kalymnios
Located in White Plains, NY
'Untitled' by John Kalymnios, 1999. Pantone ink on paper, 78.5 x 51.25 in. (framed). This geometric op art drawing features bands of concentric circles with the full spectrum colors ...
Category

1990s Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink, Archival Paper

Related Items
Original 1940s Retrofuturism Gouache Painting Birth of Mind in Black White
Located in Denver, CO
This vintage 1941 gouache painting on paper, titled Birth of Mind, signed and dated lower right, is a striking example of retrofuturism by Charles Ragland Bunnell, a prominent artist from the Broadmoor Academy...
Category

1940s Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Archival Paper

Geometric Color Grid - Op Art Composition
Located in Soquel, CA
Highly precise op-art composition by an unknown artist. A grid of colored squares has been created with various colors, divided by occasional diagonal lines that give the feel of ove...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

My 80 s Heart "Token 7" 2019, gouache, acrylic, graphite, panel, blue, orange
Located in Jersey City, NJ
My 80's Heart "Token 7" 2019, gouache, acrylic, graphite, panel, blue, wood, orange
Category

2010s Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Gouache, Panel, Wood Panel, Illustration Board, Graphite

1960s "Storm at Sea" Gouache and Oil Pastel Abstract SF Artist
Located in Arp, TX
Storm at Sea 1960s Gouache and Oil Pastel on paper 35.75"x33.25 float mount black wood frame measures 38.5"x1.5"x36" Gloria (Fischer) Dudfield July 12, 1922 – May 27, 2015 Came from...
Category

Mid-20th Century Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Oil Pastel, Gouache

1960s "Fruit Bowl in Mexico" Gouache Oil Pastel Abstract Mid Century
Located in Arp, TX
Gloria Dudfield Mexican Fruit Bowl 1960s Oil Pastel and Gouache on Paper 36"x32" unframed $1600 *Custom framing available for additional charge. Please...
Category

Mid-20th Century Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Oil Pastel, Gouache

Abstract Vintage Décor Fragment – Charcoal large Drawing on Paper made in italy
Located in Agrigento, AG
Title: Vintage Fragment Year: 2025 Medium: Charcoal on paper Size: 70 × 100 cm Framing: Unframed (custom framing available upon request) Signature: Signed on the reverse Certificate ...
Category

2010s Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

Aggregate #23 (Abstract Contemporary Painting, Framed)
Located in New Orleans, LA
(Comes framed in a maple floater frame, ready to hang.) This is one of a series we have posted on 1stDibs. The first got more clicks and saves on its first day than any of the many hundreds of artworks we have ever posted. If you search on "G. Campbell Lyman" on 1stDibs you can see others in this series. Here's a recent message from a 1stDibs buyer of a painting in this series, a seasoned collector: "Love your work. We collect colorists like Wolf Kahn and Jennifer Bartlett, whom I commissioned a piece from that is in the entrance of Mayo Clinic. We are old fans...
Category

2010s Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Charcoal, Pastel, Acrylic, House Paint

Italian Abstract Work on Paper Color Field Non-Objective European Mid-Century
Located in New York, NY
Italian Modern Abstract Work on Paper Color Field Non-Objective European Mid-Century - "Gonage" Dorazio completed "Gonage" in 1949 when just after the artist had been awarded a stipend by the French government and admission to the Academy Beaux Arts. There he met George Braque who became great friends but also an influence on Dorazio, of which "Gonage" is a living testament. "Gonage" actual size of the drawing measures 12 x 9 1/2 inches. It is signed on the lower right. The work is affixed to a 19 x 15 inch board which includes the artist's signature and date. There is a torn table on the lower left entitling the piece "Gonage". Provenance follows this piece as a gift in 1950 to the artist-colleague Luigi Lucioni, who then gifted it in 1955 to his friend, the uncle of the current owner who has owned the work since 1988. Bio Born in Italy, Piero Dorazio studied architecture in Rome. At the same time his first abstract works were executed. In 1947 he received a scholarship from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts in Paris, where he contacted Modern artists, who lived in Paris. He founded the galleries "Age d'Or" in Florence and Rome to represent avant-garde arts in Italy. During a one year stay in the USA he got acquainted with leading artists of Abstract Expressionism such as Marc Rothko...
Category

1940s Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Board

Abstract Work on Paper Mid-Century Modernism Greek American Gouache Drawing
Located in New York, NY
Abstract Work on Paper Mid-Century Modernism Greek American Gouache Drawing. A modernist artist who emigrated to America from Greece in 1904, when he was fourteen years old, Jean Xceron is described as having a reputation as an artist that has mysteriously fallen into obscurity---especially since he was reportedly quite prominent during his lifetime. However, a partial explanation of that omission is the fact that many of his papers and early records have been lost. He was a painter of biomorphic abstractions and did collages, which were influenced by Dadaism. Xceron was active in New York City when modernism was gaining influence. Of him during this period, it was written that his artistic role was "a vital link between what is commonly termed as the first-generation (the Stieglitz group, the Synchromists, etc.) and second-generation, the American Abstract Artists, the Transcendental Painting...
Category

1940s Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache

Landscape, Original Black Drawing on Paper , Made in Italy By Marilina Marchica
Located in Agrigento, AG
Landscape BW Original Drawing Mineral Oxide on Fabriano Paper 50x70 cm 2024 hand-made drawing one of a kind not reproducible CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY Framing options available
Category

2010s Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

Mounts Bay Mood. Contemporary limited edition etching
Located in Brecon, Powys
Mounts Bay Mood. Limited Edition etching from the well collected studio of Ian Laurie. Signed and numbered 14 of 50. Each one of the 25 is slightly different in tone and color Image...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Etching

Untitled (Modern Black Charcoal Gray Abstract Still Life Drawing on Paper)
Located in Hudson, NY
18 x 14 inch drawing on 20 x 16 inch Aquarelle Arches Paper 24 x 20 x .5 inches framed Thin profile black metal frame, 8 ply white mat Ralph Stout's works on paper reveal a drau...
Category

Early 2000s Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Archival Paper, Charcoal

Previously Available Items
Agam Original Marker Drawing Colorful Spirals Hand Signed Israeli Kinetic Op Art
Located in Surfside, FL
Yaacov Agam, Israeli (b. 1928) Hand signed and dated This is a great example of bold, graphic, mod design. Along with Reuven Rubin and Menashe Kadishman he is among Israel's best kn...
Category

1990s Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Archival Paper, Permanent Marker

Geometric Composition (Minimalism, Constructivism)
By Hannes Forster
Located in Kansas City, MO
Hannes Forster Geometric Composition (Minimalism, Constructivism) Medium: Graphite Drawing Unique Year: 1991 Size: 11.7 × 8.2 inches Signed and dated by hand COA Provided Hannes Forster (* 1955 in Tuttlingen ) is a German artist. Forster graduated in 1979 from the College of Arts Berlin , where he was one of Herbert Kaufmann...
Category

1990s Op Art Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Graphite

Op Art drawings and watercolor paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Op Art drawings and watercolor paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add drawings and watercolor paintings created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, pink and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Cheolyu Kim, David Roth, Roy Ahlgren, and John Kalymnios. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Paper and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Op Art drawings and watercolor paintings, so small editions measuring 11.25 inches across are also available. Prices for drawings and watercolor paintings made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $450 and tops out at $35,000, while the average work sells for $2,000.

Still Thinking About These?

All Recently Viewed